So you finished closing your auto insurance deal and receipted your customer. Do your agents/brokers believe this is the end of the process for this customer? Probably. More times than not, an agency will hire an employee, get them  licensed, train them on a policy upload and let them go. Some of the best training I recently received came from a two-day training seminar with the Travelers Property and Casualty marketing team and the most interesting thing about it was that they NEVER mentioned their company during the presentation, the only demonstrated the techniques. They know they have one of the strongest markets in the world and that it sells itself. There were agents at the seminar that had 100K on the books and one agency that collectively had over one billion dollars of business with the company and yes that is billion with a big rich and fat B!

So what was the best part of the presentation that I can share with you? You are not done with your customer after the initial sale. It is estimated that a vast majority of agents and brokers do not attempt to introduce the need for other products after they have sold the first policy and this is a crucial mistake. Whether you are selling to the Latin, Middle-Eastern or any other niche, there is absolutely no excuse for you to not offer the education of the need for other products. If you have a low income client base, it is vitally important to introduce the need to consider a renter’s insurance policy, which in many cases can be purchased for under $200/year. You don’t have to high-pressure your client but merely let them know the purpose of the policy and how it can help them in case of theft or a total loss of their personal property. If I had to go back 16 years and begin in the auto insurance business again, I would offer to pay the initial down payment for the client(part of the broker fee would pay for it) if they truly had interest and intended to continue the payment schedule. The down payment on many of these policies, currently offered through Safeco, Pacific Specialty, California Select and Cabrillo General and many others, can be as low as $40.00.

Yes, it is a gamble but when you see the retention on this line of business and the commissions that some companies offer, you will find that is will last longer than the initial auto policy that sold them. According to statistics from Electric Insurance Company, Mass Mutual, Kemper, Safeco, and Travelers Prop./Cas., you can count on a retention of approximately 75-90% and that is almost three times higher than a nonstandard auto policy retention. Some of your customers will tell you they will think about it and the best thing to do is to give them a brochure from one of the companies that you sell for who offer renters insurance. With this, your client can read it at their leisure and make an educated decision. If you don’t give them something to take with them, the percentage of client who do NOT call you back almost doubles and I have experienced this in my agency personally. Yes, most of the companies do have brochures for appointed agencies to use but most do not take advantage of this free service. Actually, Safeco has a link on their website which allows you to print a brochure/information page for your customer. Pacific Specialty has their own preprinted brochures for your use and the majority of the other companies listed above offer them, with your agency name, address and contact info printed on the brochure.

Even if you do not sell them this additional policy at the time of the auto sale, send them another one of these brochures the next time you get a revised declaration that needs to go to them or any other mailing. The persistent agent is the one who is making the money. Don’t give up after the initial sale. You know, I mentioned this to any agent recently in Atlanta at an auto insurance convention and his response was that he does not plan to do this because his “…client can barely afford the auto insurance”. It’s this type of broker which is your best salesman. He’s lazy and has preconceived notions about what his customer can and cannot afford and what he or she does and does not need. What a loser, Randy…..oops, sorry to mention the name but he probably doesn’t have the patience to read anything that might help his agency….like this article. You will never know what the need unless you ask them and be persistent, yet not too pushy. You can really turn off the client if he/she feels your “piling on”. Always go into the conversation like you are only there to inform and not to sell. They will tell you through their response and body language how much they value your input but don’t give up. It does take a few attempts to get a smooth and positive response but don’t give up. If you close 2 out of 10, you have added 20% more policies to your bottom line on a line of business that stays on the books a long time.